LEGALISING and regulating the sale of cannabis could earn Victoria $1.21 billion in the next 10 years, say the Australian Greens.
Taxing legalised cannabis at 30 per cent is one of the policies the Greens Victorian branch will take to next month’s state election.
Greens health and justice spokesperson Dr Tim Read, unveiling the party’s policy on Monday, said Parliamentary Budget Office costings backed their claims of a billion-dollar bonus. The Greens say the revenue raised from their proposed tax should be invested in drug and alcohol detoxification and treatment services, which they say have been chronically underfunded in Victoria.
“Thousands of Victorians use cannabis each year, yet for 50 years we have been more at risk from the criminal justice system, than the drugs,” Dr Read said.
“If we’re serious about tackling organised crime, taking their market away will do more than any amount of enforcement.”
The Greens’ plan also includes decriminalising possession of small quantities of other drugs from next year.
The party says the plan will save the state an additional $250 million in police, court and prison expenditure during the next decade.
Dr Read said more than one in three Australians had used cannabis, yet ‘law and order’ politics had thousands of vulnerable drug users needlessly dragged through the criminal justice system every year, causing great damage to their lives.
“We need a smarter approach to drugs, and decriminalisation of drug use is the first step,” Dr Read said.
“It also means legalising and regulating the sale and use of cannabis so Victorians aren’t buying dangerous products from the black market.
“With more Greens in parliament this November we can push the next government to just legalise it.”
Greens candidate for Eastern Victoria Mat Morgan told the Gippsland Times the party had long supported treating drug addiction as a health problem rather than a criminal issue.
“(We want to) move towards a harm-reduction approach,” he said.
“Criminalising something that so many people are doing just leads police with the ability to over-police marginalised communities at their own discretion.
“Locking people up, fining them, charging, is driving what could be a well-taxed industry underground and into organised (criminal’s) hands.”
Mr Morgan said he witnessed someone experiencing a drug overdose in Moe this year (he did not know the substance) as he was campaigning in the federal election.
“There’s an epidemic happening, and it’s going completely underground and not being treated properly. Addiction is a health issue,” he said.
Greens candidate for Gippsland South, Jay Tiziani-Simpson, agreed that drug addiction was a health issue, rather than a criminal one.
“Decriminalising marijuana, it’s just a stepping stone in giving people the help that they need,” she said.
The Animal Justice Party’s (AJP) lead Upper House candidate for Eastern Victoria Austin Cram said the party supported the Green’s proposal.
“The Animal Justice Party supports decriminalising the use of cannabis and calls for regulations to enable a lawful and safe supply,” Mr Cram said.
“The AJP acknowledges the evidence of adverse side effects and believes education, health care access and safe regulation are essential tools in addressing this.
“On balance, we believe the harm caused by criminalising cannabis is worse than the side effects of consuming it.”
Premier Daniel Andrews last year rejected recommendations of a parliamentary inquiry to consider legalising cannabis for adults in the state.
Last month, federal Greens Senator David Shoebridge said his office had obtained legal advice identifying the legal path for the licensing and sale of cannabis federally, which would override all state and territory criminal laws.
“Legal advice obtained by my office shows the Greens can pass a bill to legalise cannabis nationally,” Mr Shoebridge wrote on Twitter.
“All state legislation criminalising its legal use, possession and sale can be overridden. We could legalise cannabis across the country this year!”
A spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus told SBS News the federal government did not support the proposal.
“The Australian Government does not propose to legalise the production, sale and use of cannabis,” he said.
